Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to add 5 new faces in cabinet

HYDERABAD: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to induct five to six new faces in the first expansion of his council of ministers on Tuesday, December 16.
The induction ceremony will be held at the Raj Bhavan here at 11am. While rumours of cabinet expansion have been doing the rounds for the past few weeks, on Saturday his office put the speculations to rest by announcing the date of expansion in an official release.
While there are six vacancies in the 18-member cabinet, sources said the chief minister is likely to retain the existing members and induct at least five new ministers. Among the several aspirants for the ministerial berths, the main contenders include Mahbubnagar MLA Jupalli Krishna Rao and Tummala Nageswar Rao, former MLA and Khamman strongman who recently switched over from TDP to TRS. Under ST quota, Mulugu MLA A Chandu Lal from Warangal and Asifabad's Kova Lakshmi are in the reckoning, sources said. Earlier this week, the chief minister at the foundation laying ceremony of a tribal bhavan in the city said that he would induct an ST minister into his cabinet giving representation to that community.
Sources said Konda Surekha who was a minister in the YS Rajashekhar Reddy cabinet stood a chance to become a minister under women's quota. From the politically dominant Reddy community, Indrakaran Reddy, MLA from Adilabad who defected from BSP to TRS, and Jedcharla MLA C Lakshma Reddy are the likely candidates.
According to a release issued by the chief minister's office on Saturday, the chief minister has decided to appoint Dharmapuri MLA Koppula Eswar as the chief whip of the government, while legislators Gampa Govardan, Gogudi Sunitha and Nallala Odelu would be nominated as government whips. V Srinivas Goud and %Jalagam Venkat Rao would be made parliamentary %secretaries.In addition, five to six legislators are likely to get nominated chairman posts in boards or corporations.
This is the first expansion of Chandrasekhar Rao's cabinet and comes at a time when the government is taking steps to implement various schemes, including the water grid 'Mission Kakatiya' to restore tanks and lakes. While the announcement of the expansion set off intense speculation among the aspirants, the disappointed among the lot included Koppuala Eswar, who was initially tipped to be deputy chief minister.
While KCR has already made dalit leader T Rajaiah as one of the two deputy CMs, Eswar now has to be satisfied with the post of chief whip.
Jalagam Venkata Rao, leader from Khammam who switched over from Congress to TRS before the elections, has to be satisfied with the post of a parliamentary secretary while his arch rival from the district Tummala Nageswar Rao is likely to be inducted into the cabinet.
Srinivas Goud, who has been made parliamentary secretary, is also reportedly sulking as he was reportedly assured of a berth in the cabinet.